CrystEngComm Blog

Designing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) with structure-based properties has received a considerable amount of interest in recent years. This is due to their fascinating molecular structures and potential applications in molecular adsorption, separation, heterogeneous catalysis, magnetism and electrical conductivity.

The basic strategy for constructing MOFs is to use an appropriate organic ligand, especially bridging ligands containing multi-dentate oxygen or nitrogen donors, to coordinate to the metal centers.  Cucurbit[n]uril (n = 5–8, 10, abbreviated as Q[n]) is a class of barrel-shaped organic macrocyclic ligand with identical carbonyl-laced portals on each side. The polar carbonyl groups of the Q[n]s are capable of metal-coordination and therefore Q[n]s are promising building blocks for the construction of coordination polymers.

Now in this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Zhu Tao et al., report the synthesis and crystal structures of three coordination polymers with K⁺, Rb⁺ and Cs⁺ coupled with (HO)₁₀Q[5] as the building block.

Read this article for free until 5th May 2011 here.

Coordination polymers constructed from alkali metal ions and (HO)10cucurbit[5]uril
Xin Xiao, Zhu Tao, Sai-Feng Xue, Yun-Qian Zhang, Qian-Jiang Zhu, Jing-Xin Liu and Gang Wei
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05162H

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, which is part of a themed issue celebrating the achievements of the late Professor Fumio Toda entitled “Reactions in Molecular Solids and Host-Guest Systems“, Anthony Coleman and Oksana Danylyuk et al. report their results on a systematic investigation of the solid-state complexes of para-sulphonato calix[4]arene (C4S) with 1,10-phenanthroline (Phen).  The team prepared four supramolecular complexes of C4S with Phen in single-crystal form and their structures determined by X-ray diffraction.

Cyclodextrins, crown ethers, cryptands and calix[n]arenes are the most important categories of supramolecular hosts. Acid derivatives such as para-sulphonato-, O-phosphonato- or O-alkylcarboxylato-calix[n]arenes present the advantage of being hydrosoluble and thus apt for study with regard to their biological properties and their complexation abilities towards molecules of biological interest.

Read the article for free until 29th April 2011 here.

Supramolecular versatility in the solid-state complexes of para-sulphonatocalix[4]arene with phenanthroline
Barbara Lesniewska, Oksana Danylyuk, Kinga Suwinska, Tomasz Wojciechowski and Anthony W. Coleman
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI:10.1039/C0CE00515K

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Zhang et al. synthesised Si-doped In₂O₃(ZnO)₃ (SDIZO) nanobelts using chemical vapour deposition (CVD).  The Si behaves as a suitable n-type dopant that gives stable n-type conductivity with high electron concentration and low resistivity.  The electron transport properties of the nanobelt devices show a non-linear characteristic due to the existence of the intrinsic statistical potential distribution.

Transparent oxide semiconductor (TOS) thin films with high optical transparency and good controllability of carrier generation have been studied intensively for photonic and electronic devices, such as, short-wavelength light emitting diodes and transparent field-effect transistors (TFETs).

Read this article for free until 20th April 2011 here.

Synthesis and transport properties of Si-doped In₂O₃(ZnO)₃ superlattice nanobelts
J. Y. Zhang, Y. Lang, Z. Q. Chu, X. Liu, L. L. Wu and X. T. Zhang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE00004G

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Cao, Okada et al. describe a simple but effective catalyst-tailored chemical vapour deposition method for growing ZnO nanowires and nanobelts in a controlled way.  The ZnO nanobelts grown without using any catalyst or dopant show different optical properties than nanowires grown with a gold-catalyst assisted vapour-solid-liquid process.

Nanobelts and nanowires are the most important candidates for potential optoelectronic applications. When compared with nanowires, there is no common growth strategy that can be applied for nanobelts and, therefore, growth of ZnO nanobelts is more difficult.

Read more about these fascinating structures for free until 12th April 2011, here.

Catalyst/dopant-free growth of ZnO nanobelts with different optical properties from nanowires grown via a catalyst assisted method
B. Q. Cao, Z. M. Liu, H. Y. Xu, H. B. Gong, D. Nakamura, K. Sakai, M. Higashihata and T. Okada
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C1CE05058C

Vanadium oxides with various connectivities of distorted VO₆ polyhedra are characterized by tremendous structural diversity, which make them a seemingly huge playground for solid-state chemists.

In this exciting CrystEngComm Hot Article, Sarbajit Banerjee et al. describe a novel seeded growth strategy to obtain nanostars of VO₂ and V₂O₅.

The synthetic strategy offers a reproducible alternative to previous approaches for growing octahedral microcrystallites and nanostars with star, snowflake, and asterisk geometries.

Why not check out other amazing images on our Crystal Clear page here.

A VO-seeded approach for the growth of star-shaped VO₂ and V₂O₅ nanocrystals: facile synthesis, structural characterization, and elucidation of electronic structure
Luisa Whittaker, Jesus M. Velazquez and Sarbajit Banerjee
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00832J

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Songjun Zeng, Qibin Yang et al. demonstrate a simple lanthanide doping route for modifying the crystal structure (crystal phase, shape, size and physical properties) of monodisperse multifunctional NaYbF4 nanocrystals.

Lanthanide-doped UC nanocrystals attract attention due to their novel UC emission properties and potential applications in optics, biolabels, colour displays and as light-emitting diodes.

When compared with conventional bioimaging materials, Ln doped UC nanocrystals are considered the most appropriate candidates for biological fluorescent labels due to weak autofluorescence, deep penetration of non-invasive NIR excitation, low radiation damage and photobleaching.

Modifying crystal phase, shape, size, optical and magnetic properties of monodispersed multifunctional NaYbF4 nanocrystals through lanthanide doping
Songjun Zeng, Guozhong Ren, Changfu Xu and Qibin Yang
CrystEngComm, 2011, Advance Article, DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00833H

Designing coordination polymers with both lanthanide and transition metal centres is of great interest to the MOF community in terms of the often wierd and wonderful architectures that can be achieved as well as the properties that can be derived from these networks in such diverse areas as magnetism, luminescence, catalysis and molecular adsorption.

In this CrystEngComm Hot Article, Su et al. have synthesised four such coordination polymers with Ln–Cu (3d–4f) centres that show intriguing properties and structures, opening the door for other structures to be synthesised in the future.

Read for free until 22 nd March 2001 here.

3D lanthanide–transition-metal–organic frameworks constructed from tetranuclear {Ln4} SBUs and Cu centres with fsc net
Jing Xu, Weiping Su* and Maochun Hong
CrystEngComm, 2011,DOI: 10.1039/C0CE00800A, Paper